Johnny Cash – I Got Stripes (Chords)
Johnny Cash is a big favourite for ukulele groups and jams. And The Poor Boys of Worcester’s version of I Got Stripes has me convinced that song should be added to Ring of Fire and Folsom Prison Blues in the repertoire.
There are a couple of weirdnesses that make the original a bit less appealing on ukulele. Firstly, it’s in C# so a capo on the first fret is needed to make things straightforward. And there’s a strange Bb chord at the start of the song which makes it feel like the song is in F.
The original version also has a key change to contend with.
Two Chord Version
I Got Stripes (Two Chord Version)
To make it really beginner friendly, here’s a two chord, no capo version based on The Poor Boys of Worcester’s version and the version from Walk the Line.
Suggested Strumming
This pattern should get you through the whole song:
d – d – d u d u
We [The Poor Boys of Worcester] used the 2 chord version and threw a 12 bar blues break in the middle to make it more interesting [hopefully!]. Thanks for the mention.